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CenterPoint Energy to Post Q3 Earnings: What's in Store for the Stock?

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Key Takeaways

  • CNP's Q3 performance likely benefited from ongoing grid modernization and reliability efforts.
  • Higher investments and demand from industrial and data center customers may boost results.
  • Increased operating expenses could partially offset CNP's infrastructure and demand-driven gains.

CenterPoint Energy (CNP - Free Report) is scheduled to release third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 23, before market open. The company delivered a negative earnings surprise of 14.7% in the last reported quarter. 

Let’s discuss the factors that are likely to be reflected in the upcoming quarterly results.

Factors That Might Have Impacted CNP’s Q3 Performance

CenterPoint Energy’s increased investments are likely to have strengthened its infrastructure and improved overall service reliability. These ongoing reliability improvement initiatives — including infrastructure upgrades, modernization of equipment, and grid resilience efforts — have helped the company reduce service outage minutes and enhance operational efficiency. As a result, these improvements are expected to have contributed positively to CenterPoint Energy’s performance in the third quarter.

The majority of the company’s service territories experienced warmer-than-normal temperature patterns for most of the third quarter. Such a weather pattern is expected to have boosted electricity demand for cooling purposes. This should have boosted the company’s top line in the third quarter.

Rising industrial customer demand, data centers and transportation electrification projects boosting electricity demand are also likely to have contributed to the company’s overall revenues in the soon-to-be-reported quarter.

However, higher total operating expenses might have offset some of the positives in the third quarter.

CNP’s Q3 Expectations

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 47 cents per share, indicating a year-over-year increase of 51.6%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pinned at $1.98 billion, implying a 6.6% improvement year over year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for total electric throughput is pinned at 33,438.9 gigawatt-hours, up 2.5% from the figure registered in the year-ago quarter. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for total natural gas throughput is pinned at 108.61 billion cubic feet, up 1.5% from the figure registered in the year-ago quarter.

What Our Quantitative Model Predicts

Our proven model does not predict an earnings beat for CenterPoint Energy this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here as you will see below.
 

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. price-eps-surprise | CenterPoint Energy, Inc. Quote

Earnings ESP: The company’s Earnings ESP is -3.19%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: Currently, CenterPoint Energy carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Stocks to Consider

Investors may consider the following players from the same industry, as these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this reporting cycle.

FirstEnergy Corporation (FE - Free Report) is likely to come up with an earnings beat when it reports third-quarter results on Oct. 22. It has an Earnings ESP of +5.84% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present.

FE’s long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate is 5.85%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pinned at 73 cents per share, indicating a year-over-year decrease of 14.1%.

Xcel Energy (XEL - Free Report) is likely to come up with an earnings beat when it reports third-quarter results on Oct. 30. It has an Earnings ESP of +0.68% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present.

XEL’s long-term earnings growth rate is 7.44%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pinned at $1.33 per share, which implies a year-over-year increase of 6.4%. 

Eversource Energy (ES - Free Report) is likely to come up with an earnings beat when it reports third-quarter results on Nov. 4. It has an Earnings ESP of +6.31% and a Zacks Rank #3 at present.

ES’ long-term earnings growth rate is 5.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pinned at $1.11 per share, indicating a year-over-year decrease of 1.8%.

 

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